Lynel boi, chapter five: can we keep it?
Link followed the kid around until the plume of smoke disappeared. Then they both stopped; apparently the kid was unsure of where to go the second their landmark vanished.
“Just keep heading in that direction, maybe? Yeah.”
Link mewed at him, trying to ask his name. Stupid body. He could kind of make the right noises, but it would take a lot of practice, he would be learning to speak all over again.
Sharp pain. An arrow was sticking out of Link’s shoulder. He roared, pulled it out, reared up, and took out his sabre and shield.
Four heavily armed men charged forward, one much slower than the others. They seemed experienced enough with combat to be a challenge to him.
…but he didn’t want to fight these people; they looked like they had come from the direction of whatever camp it was his new friend was headed towards. They had probably come looking to protect their friend.
Link didn’t notice too much in his quick scan of the group. The slowest was fluffy-looking, with soft features, a white cape, and a green tunic. The tallest had colorful facial tattoos, a scar over one eye, and gold-looking armor. The one on the far right appeared enraged, he had a red tunic, no pants, and a pink streak in his blonde hair. The last one sported a wolf pelt, a green tunic, and dark tattoos along the bridge of his nose and forehead.
A lot of green tunics today, it seemed.
Link was going to make a run for it when the pink-haired one pulled out some strange tool that shot out a chain with something sharp at the end that stabbed into Link's shield, then the little Hylian tried to yank the shield out of Link’s grip. Link held his ground and yanked back, tossing the man into the air. Flying overhead like an arrow. Oops. Link had been just trying to dislodge the tool from their grip, but oh well.
“Legend!” Link’s friend yelped, “Hey! You-”
Link wasn’t able to catch the rest as the tall, tattooed, and heavily armored one SLAMMED their strangely familiar claymore into Link’s side; it hurt, but didn’t do as much damage as it should have. Thanks, golden Lynel body! The wound leaked black and bright glowing blue blood, and the remaining eye of the man widened in horror. He apparently knew what that meant.
“Keep it distracted, Time!” wolf-pelt yelled, “I have an idea! Legend! Can you wrap your hookshot around those trees? Sky, do the same thing Legend did, then run around it a few times!”
Link saw the same tool from earlier stab into his shield next to the other one right as one-eye snatched his slate.
Link snapped forward and bit the man's shoulder, biting hard enough so he bent the metal of the armor and reached the flesh underneath. He lifted the man into the air in his mouth and shook him vigorously. The man cried out in pain and dropped Link's slate, letting it thud in the dirt and grass below.
“Time!” he heard someone call out. They sounded panicked, and with good reason.
“STOP!” That was the kid from earlier. Link was mad. They had TOUCHED HIS SLATE. He had been a tad overprotective of the slate since he learned those who had it had access to his memories. Maybe ‘a tad’ was an understatement.
There wasn’t any more fighting, and Link turned - the armored man still hanging in his maw - toward the kid. The group seemed reluctant to stop fighting; they twitched with anticipation but trusted their friend enough that they didn’t advance. Strange. Link knew he wouldn’t have done the same.
“Set him down,” the kid mimicked setting something in his mouth down. Cute, the kid thought Link couldn’t understand. He set the groaning man down, and the Hylians immediately rushed over, Link’s maybe-friend using that weird healing spell that reminded Link of the fae.
“Hyrule…” the pink one - Legend - said, “How did you get it to do that?”
“It’s not hostile, or at least it wasn’t before you guys attacked. It was just following me around.”
Link pulled the two stabbys out of his shield and approached his slate, picking it up and sifting through it. Link changed his mind about eating food with healing properties when he felt his side begin to knit back together in a strange way. Again, thanks, golden Lynel body!
“It’s infected, maybe more than just that,” the one-eyed man - Time - said, gesturing toward Link’s wound with his good arm as the kid ripped off the armor of the other and healing him some more, “are you sure it’s not bent on killing us all?”
“You all can come out now!” Time called to the woods, “We won’t need you as backup!”
Three more Hylians left the woods and neared the group, one cautiously, the other two running straight to Time and asking if he was okay.
The careful one was small, with hair kept back by a green headband, a multi-colored tunic, purple eyes, and a thoughtful expression. The one that reached Time first was about twenty years old, with an embroidered blue scarf, a fancy green tunic, and well-kept hair. The other was a boy of maybe fourteen, with fluffy blonde hair, wide eyes, and a lobster shirt Link recognized. Was the boy perhaps from Lurelin? He was a little tan from the sun, a fisherman maybe?
“Time, are you okay?” Fancy-pants asked. “That looked like it hurt.” he sent a glare in Link’s direction. Fair enough.
“It’s fine,” Time said, getting up now that he had been almost completely healed. “I’m fine now, besides, I attacked first.”
Link walked over and didn’t miss the look the others - all except the two kids - gave him; he patted Time’s head and grunted.
“See?” The brown-haired kid said, “friendly.”
“Can we keep it?” the blue-clad one said, hopeful.
Everyone, including Link, fell silent and stared.
“That’s completely up to the Lynel,” Legend said, glancing up at Link, “if it wants to leave, I’m not stopping it.”
“Well,” Time said, patting the young one’s head, “if you want to keep it, you and Hyrule will have to be responsible if it eats anyone.”
“Wait, why me?” Link’s friend asked.
“You’re joking, right?” fancy-pants asked the older man.
“There’s no way we can care for this thing,” colorful tunic said, eyes shifting to a deeper bluish purple.
Link lay down, watching them argue with amusement. The child wearing blue walked over and held out his hand, palm up, supposedly for Link to sniff. Well… it would be a good idea to get their scents. Link leaned down and nuzzled the outstretched hand; he was embarrassed to admit how good it felt, at first. The stench made him flinch back, hissing softly.
“Guess it can smell the breakfast you tried to cook,” Legend said, smiling wryly.
“It is far more than capable of caring for itself,” Link’s friend - Hyrule - said. “It seems to be able to make fruit appear out of thin air so it won’t need to hunt for food.”
“Aren’t Lynels carnivores?” Legend asked.
“Nah,” Hyrule said, “I’ve seen some pull roots up to eat; they’re omnivores.”
“Can we go back to how it made fruit appear out of thin air?” fancy-pants said, sounding unsettled, “is that normal for Lynels?”
“Er… no, it’s not,” Hyrule said, “and I don’t know how it did that.”
“That’s probably something we should look into,” colorful-tunic said, “Wind, get your hands out of that thing's face; it might bite you.”
“No, it won’t!” Wind said, stretching up on his tiptoes to reach Link’s face, trying to pet him, “Hyrule said it’s nice.”
That stench was getting annoying; this kid needed a bath. Link stood up quickly, grabbing everyone's attention with the movement. He carefully scooped the kid up and started slowly walking in the general direction of Ludfo’s bog. This caused shouts of alarm to rise from most of the group, all of whom got up and rushed over faster than the hero expected. Link stopped walking and looked at them.
“Put him down!” fancy-pants said, drawing his sword.
“There’s no need to be so angry, captain,” Wind said, happily cuddled up in Link’s grip, playing with the fur on Link’s forearm, “it’s not like it’s running off with me, plus, I kinda wanna know where it wants to go.”
“Where it… Wind,” fancy pants - apparently their captain - said. “This is a horrible idea.”
Link started walking again; everyone followed, unable to slow him down even if they tried.
Normal - or at least, what could suffice for normal in this situation - conversation began to flow through the group, though the occasional worried look was sent in Link’s direction.
Link walked a few paces in front of the group, keeping an eye out for any monsters besides himself.
“Do you have a family?” Wind asked. Link glanced down at the kid, who was staring up at him with wide ocean blue eyes. “What are they like?”
Oof, that was… a challenge to answer, especially since he couldn’t talk.
“It can’t understand you.”
“Yes, it can, Ledge! It looked down at me when I spoke!”
“That’s because you made annoying squeaky noises,” Legend got elbowed in the ribs by the colorful one.
Link purred at Wind, prompting him to talk more.
“Anyway,” Wind said, snapping his attention back to Link, “do you wanna hear about my family?”
Link mewled. Though Link knew he could talk in this form with practice, he wasn’t sure he wanted to do that quite yet.
Wind launched into telling him all about his grandma, his sister, and the island they all lived on together, which had a type of animal called a pig. His sister was named Aryl, and his grandma was called Granny and had strangely refused to tell anyone her real name.
“You’re probably wondering-” “It’s not.” “Shut up, Ledge - what I’m doing so far from home, right?”
“Anyway, there was this WEIRD purple portal thingy, kinda shaped like a triangle?” Wind launched into telling Link everyone's names, why they were here, and a prank in which Wind - also known as the freaking HERO OF WINDS - had met the other heroes of the past. Link could not let them figure out about the calamity.
Finally, they reached Ludfo’s bog; when they did, Link promptly set Wind down in the water and began swiping the surface of the water at him.
“Gah!” Wind yelped and began splashing back vigorously.
“It… wanted to play in the water!?” the man wearing the pelt said incredulously, staring at where Wind and Link both sat slapping the water at each other.
“Well, pup,” Time said, resting his hand on ‘pup’s’ shoulder and eyeing link in a way that did not match his words, “at least it is a friendly beast, despite the nature of its blood and what it first did.”
That was the other thing Wind had mentioned, that the monsters with black blood were stronger than normal and were the things these weirdos were trying to hunt. Link was one of the things these people were trying to exterminate.
He wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
He sniffed Wind, trying to be sure that the boy was completely clean. He wasn’t, but at least the horrible smell was gone.
“So,” pup said, “no grudges against it for mualing you?”
“There is a small grudge,” Time said, gazing at Link, “but not one I should feed.”
“Guys!” Hyrule suddenly called out; he had just barely started to join Wind and Link in their water fight, “Portal incoming! probably!”
Everyone - except Link - suddenly perked up and started looking around. Wind and Hyrule stood, and Wind started hopping up and down excitedly.
Something was wrong; this feeling - of something just beyond the edge of his vision and understanding - was very unsettling.
‘There,’ Link thought, focusing on an area just a few feet next to him and Wind. ‘That’s where it’s coming from.’
A few seconds later - a few seconds of anxiety and anticipatory looks in every direction - the dark triangle Wind had described warped the air, making its dramatic appearance in the place Link had been looking.
Link jumped backwards and hissed at the portal, the water from the movement splashing over Wind and Hyrule. He was NOT going on another adventure, not a third time.
“Aw, it doesn’t wanna go…”
“We don’t know that, Wind,” the captain said, he said those words as if they had insulted his mother, “it could still follow us through.”
“C’mon,” Legend walked toward the portal, stirring up the water as he went, “let’s get this over with. I, for one, don’t want it to follow; it could pose a threat to our eras.”
“Wait!” the colorful one yelped, eyes red now, “We go in pairs, remember? That way no one gets separated? Here,” he sauntered forward until he was up to his waist in the water next to Legend; he grabbed Legend’s hand and pulled them both in.
They vanished into the darkness, and Link could no longer sense their souls - an ability he gained from collecting millions of poes and hanging around the blupees and great fairies - or magic once they set foot into the triangle.
One pair at a time, most of the heroes were gone, save Wind and Sky, who were pulled to a stop by the younger of the two.
Wind offered an outstretched hand up to Link.
“C’mon!” Wind said, grinning, “It’ll be fun!”
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